In the traditional mode of canoe travel by people of the north woods, food and equipment were carried in simple elongate boxes or packs known as wanigans. Such a wanigan is carried during a portage on the back of the canoeist using a long tump line fitted with a headband. The ends of the tump line are wrapped around respective ends of the wanigan and secured while the headband is fitted over the forehead of the portaging traveler. Such a traditional wanigan and tump line arrangement is of the utmost simplicity and not well adapted to the multiple requirements of the contemporary "sport" or recreationist.
A number of travel boxes and kits have been developed for the vacationing camper or traveler but none are particularly adapted for the rigors of canoe travel characterized by the constraints of limited space, frequent handling, rapid movement, quick access, and occasional immersion in the lotic environment.
The Butcher U.S. Pat. No. 2,939,756 describes an automobile travel kit box with assorted compartments and shelves but totally unsuited for accommodating the space requirements in a canoe, ready access within the canoe, and portaging. Similarly, Thatcher in U.S. Pat. No. 2,662,989 describes a combined portable table and cabinet with legs which is not well adapted to the necessities of water travel or rapid access within the confines of a canoe.